Scottish FA set to ban under-12s from heading footballs

[TheLocalYokel]

Scottish FA expected to ban children heading footballs within weeks

Rules could be in place within weeks after a study found ex-players are more likely to die of dementia.

www.bbc.co.uk

The Scottish Football Association plans to take this course of action because of fears that there are links between heading footballs and dementia.

The Football Association (England's footballing governing body) has no plans to follow a similar course.

One or two former high-profile footballers have suffered dementia-related conditions that ultimately led to their death.

Whilst it might be sensible to ban youngsters from heading as a precaution it must also be said that the elderly former footballers who died from dementia-related conditions played the game in the days of much heavier footballs. The leather footballs could become twice as heavy on wet days and the ball pressure was also higher than nowadays. You only have to see goalkeepers kicking the ball from one end of the ground to the other to realise that. They would never be able to do that with the old balls.

Whether this is another health and safety panic reaction in what some see as an increasingly namby-pamby society will always be arguable, but if there is any doubt it's probably right to err on the side of safety when it comes to youngsters.

 

[Ashley.S.]

Health and Safety have gone mad me thinks!

 

[Aviador]

I think this has been banded about before, not just with football. Health professionals are saying sport tackles and knocks to the head can easily cause concussion and damage to the brain and they say it isn't taken seriously enough.

I think we've often laughed it off in the past and we often say American footballers are soft with all the padding and head gear they wear but maybe our sports should take a leaf out of their book?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

It's not really viable for footballers to wear headgear - it would make heading the ball with any accuracy impossible, in fact meaningful heading at all would be a non-starter. Peter Cech the Chelsea and later Arsenal goalkeeper wore a head protector for much of his career following a head injury. Goalkeepers don't head the ball very often but they are called upon to do so sometimes when outside the penalty area. I don't know he managed that.

Until the late 70s cricket helmets were unheard of. Nowadays it's rare for batsmen not to wear one - they are mandatory for under 18s when batting or keeping wicket - although when two slow bowlers are operating some batsmen do remove their helmet.

A Scottish neurosurgeon thinks the football authorities should go further and ban or restrict all heading. Given that in recent decades footballs have become lighter and and less pressurised it might be thought that the situation has improved sufficiently anyway when it comes to adult players.